Post Due

Pretzel, my KG squirrel

At last my post about London.

It was both a success and a failure of a trip. Successful in that I was able to visit one of my favorite cities in the world, feed my squirrel in Kensington Gardens (because of course he is *my* squirrel), and find a couple of really awesome bookstores.

It was a failure in the fact that the weather was very cold and rainy (big surprise, not!), the "main" reason we were there got canceled the 2nd day, and I didn't actually get to all of the places I wanted to research.

However, I still really enjoyed the trip. I would go back in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very interesting trip to blog about. We were there for a very short time, and the most touristy things we did was go to the Tower of London and cross the Tower Bridge. Otherwise, we literally rode the Tube and wandered around London. That was my fault.

I really took this photo.

I wanted to wander around London aimlessly in a few choice areas that are involved with my book. I missed going to 3 key areas, and I am trying very hard not to book the next flight so that I can go back and hit those areas. It's a good thing I have been to London before...so I kind of know how to find what I need online, but I still would have liked to have gotten to those areas. Oh well. I guess there will just have to be a next time. Maybe for book 2. I did gather some interesting "moments" and I met a few characters that will be inspiring characters for my book. So, overall, it really wasn't a bad trip.

Because we were wandering aimlessly, I did not get interesting photos...well, they are interesting to me, and they are for the purpose of flavor, simply for my book. I got things like buildings and residential area gates and views of streets with their shops. Not much strictly picturesque aside from the fact that almost *all* of London is picturesque. So, I hope you all will be entertained by Yoda who visited Covent Garden on a very cold rainy day. See if you can figure out his trick. ;)

 

And I ate shawarma! 

Jet Lag from Hell

I am back. Happy to be home, but already secretly planning my return to a city I love. The weather was crap, the food was iffy (partially because of my appetite), the company was stellar, hotel was fantastic, and transportation better (and worse in some cases) than expected.

However, I ended up with one of the worst cases of jet lag I have ever had.

I found this link today: A Battle Plan for Jet Lag and I really wish I had looked it up before I left. I did just about everything wrong I could have done.

When we got to London, it was already 8 in the morning, and we had to get to our hotel, check in, and decide what we were going to be able to do while we waited for our room to be ready at 3PM. We were exhausted; totally and completely exhausted beyond the point to even be able to sleep any more, at least in my case.

I wanted to get in touch with everyone. So, I was on my iPhone as soon as I had access to free wireless. I had no idea I was supposed to be avoiding light, so we did other stuff because it was daytime. I hadn't slept at all on the overnight flight. I didn't sleep at all the first night in London either. Nothing like being up for 30 hours.  I don't recommend it.

Anyway, I am recovering and now I have my battle plan set for next time. I will get caught up on Thursday's Children and Celebrating the Small Things and probably join one more fun sounding hop in the next week. Sorry so slow, but as you get to know me, I am a cross between an OCD squirrel and a snail, most of the time. Right now, I feel like this:

Surprise!

I am not really back in full force here. I just wanted to give a teaser for what I will have in store when I get back from my trip...

There will be a nice big juicy post about my favorite things I've done in London. Woo hoo! I know you all can't wait.

If that isn't enough to anticipate, you can always browse through my Pinterest boards while I am gone. I will have as many live updates to my London board as I can. Also, if you just can't get enough Iron Man or you want some handy crochet tips, there are boards for those too, among many other things. I've even got WIP inspiration. You can get a fun visual fix and a little bit of conversation. If nothing else, it will be mildly entertaining.

You can play "Where's Risurocket"

Have fun, Rocket Squirrels! I'll see you when I get back!